Set up special committee to monitor allocation to avoid another scandal, says Putatan Umno division chief

KOTA KINABALU: A special committee should be established by the government to monitor the additional allocation under the 12th Malaysia Plan mid-term review (12MP MTR) to address the water woes in Sabah.

Putatan Umno division chief Jeffrey Nor Mohamed said this was to prevent a repeat of the corruption scandal that allegedly took place in the Sabah Water Department involving millions of ringgit in 2016.

He said Sabahans have been left traumatised by the incident, dubbed the “Sabah Watergate” scandal.

He said the people have been suffering the consequences, with several major areas facing water supply shortages, adding it was imperative to stop the matter from recurring.

“Sabahans have high hopes this additional allocation could be monitored by the federal Finance Ministry and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to prevent potential corruption,” he said, on Wednesday (Sept 13).

“We don’t want this (scandal) to take place again, Sabahans have been traumatised by the past.

“The water supply issue must be resolved once and for all as it’s the people’s main necessity,” added Jeffrey who is also the Sabah Umno election director.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had on Monday (Sept 11) announced the RM800mil assistance to resolve the water woes in Sabah and Kelantan when tabling the 12MP MTR.

Sabah had high expectations for a speedy RM320mil federal assistance.

However, there was a delay in channelling the funds and this triggered a hot political issue amid the unending water woes, ranging from low water pressure to dry taps over the past 18 months in several parts of the state, including Kota Kinabalu.

Towards this end, Jeffrey appreciated the Federal unity government’s understanding of the people’s longstanding dilemma and its seriousness in helping to tackle the problem.

“It doesn’t matter who asked for the allocations, but what’s important is that the Federal Government itself knows the state government is unable to resolve this treated water supply issue due to a lack of funds,” he said.

He added, however, he could not understand why the state government had to depend on Putrajaya to help with its problems including the water woes despite announcing billions of ringgit in state revenue previously.